Deceased: 2000-03-30
Diocese: CINCINNATI
Seminary Graduation Year: 1977
CSM Graduation Year: 1981
REV. RICHARD MARZHEUSER
CLASS OF 1977 - CASA 1981
The Rev. Richard A. Marzheuser was a teacher of Roman Catholic theology with a deep interest in other religious traditions, especially Judaism and Lutheranism.
Rev. Marzheuser, academic dean at the Athenaeum of Ohio/Mount St. Mary's Seminary, died Thursday during his early morning jogging routine. He was 50.
''His sudden, untimely death has stunned us,'' said Barbara Glueck, Cincinnati area director of the American Jewish Committee. ''We have lost a dear friend.''
Rev. Marzheuser was actively involved in Jewish-Catholic dialogue, serving on the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Ecumenical Commission. He spearheaded a program of exchange between seminarians at the Athenaeum and rabbinical students at Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College.
''It seemed like there was potential for building understanding among future clergy,'' Ms. Glueck said. ''He was truly the guiding spirit behind that program.''
As academic dean at the seminary, Rev. Marzheuser was responsible for the overall academic program for seminarians. He also taught theology.
''He was preeminently a teacher,'' said Louise Vera, ecumenical officer for the archdiocese. ''He knew the major Vatican II documents by heart. He taught them so often (that) he had the talent of making Catholic theology very clear and simple.''
Rev. Marzheuser grew up in Price Hill as the oldest of seven children and entered St. Gregory's Seminary in 1966 as a high school junior, the earliest age allowed at that time.
He earned bachelor and master's degreesin philosophy from the seminary. He studied at the North American College in Rome from 1973 to 1977, receiving his bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology.
He was ordained to the priesthood July 15, 1977, by then-Cincinnati Archbishop Joseph Bernardin, who sent him back to Rome in 1980 to continue graduate studies and obtain his licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Rev. Marzheuser joined the Athenaeum faculty as a theology instructor in 1981. In 1988, he received his doctoral degreein Sacred Theology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
He returned to teach at Mount St. Mary's in 1987 and became academic dean.
For the last three years, he was a consultant on doctrine to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Since 1996, he helped with weekend Masses at St. Veronica Church in Mount Carmel.
''Our local church will be poorer without him,'' said Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. ''Father Marzheuser was everybody's idea of a good priest: kind, well-educated, pastorally sensitive, articulate. I knew him from his undergraduate days at St. Gregory's Seminary.''
Reception of the body will take place at 4 p.m. Monday at the Mount St. Mary's Seminary Chapel, 6616 Beechmont Ave., Mount Washington. The Rev. Gerald R. Haemmerle, seminary rector, will preside. Visitation will last until 9 p.m. Vigil will last from 9 p.m. Monday to 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, Eighth and Plum streets, downtown, with Archbishop Pilarczyk presiding. Burial will immediately follow at St. Joseph Cemetery, West Eighth Street.
Date of announcement: 04-01-2000
